The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said on Tuesday that it was deploying more forces to northern Kosovo after 30 of its peacekeepers were injured in clashes with ethnic Serb protesters. The European Union called for an urgent de-escalation of tensions.
On Monday, NATO-led peacekeepers used shields and batons in a bid to disperse the crowd but were met by a hail of rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails.
A total of 30 peacekeepers – 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians – were wounded in Monday’s clashes, according to KFOR.
Fifty-two protesters were also injured, three of them “seriously”, while five Serbs were arrested for taking part in the clashes.
United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticised ally Kosovo, blaming Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government for “sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions” by installing ethnic Albanian mayors.
The US also suspended Kosovo from an ongoing military exercise.
Kosovo declared independence from Belgrade after a US-led NATO military intervention in 1999 effectively ended a bitter war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.
Serbia – along with its key allies China and Russia – still does not recognise the move, preventing Pristina from having a seat at the United Nations.
Kosovo is mainly populated by ethnic Albanians, but the Serbs who make up around 6 per cent of the population have remained largely loyal to Belgrade, especially in the north where they are a majority.
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